Mikel Arteta has given a worrying update on the fitness of Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard after the Arsenal stars were injured during the 2-0 win over West Ham.
Arsenal cruised to victory at the Emirates to move, temporarily at least, to the top of the Premier League table.
They’ll remain there over the international break, provided Liverpool don’t beat Chelsea in Saturday’s evening kick-off.
Rice opened the scoring against his former club before a Bukayo Saka penalty ensured Arteta won his 300th game in charge of the Gunners.
But yet again this season, Arsenal have been dealt a painful injury blow, with captain Odegaard forced to come off after just half-an-hour following a collision with Crysencio Summerville.
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The attacking midfielder has already missed several games this campaign with a shoulder injury and Arteta sounded concerned when addressing this latest set-back in his post-match press conference.
‘Well I think he had a clash knee-to-knee, and immediately he was uncomfortable,’ the manager said.
‘I just spoke to him, he’s not positive about it, he’s got a brace on. We’ll have to wait and see from the doctors, but we haven’t been very unlucky with that either.
‘We haven’t had him since the start of the season for one reason or another, the shoulder twice and then this injury. We have to wait and see the extent of the injury and find solutions.
‘Obviously he’s our captain, a player that gives up a completely different dimension with the things that he can do, especially in attacking. Let’s wait and hopefully it’s not that bad.’
Embarrassingly, the Norway skipper has now become the first player in history to be substituted before half-time in three consecutive Premier League starts.
To make matters worse, Rice came off in the closing stages after appearing to hurt his back, with Arteta worryingly revealing that the midfielder asked to be subbed off.
‘Well, he’s not alright because he asked me to come off, so that’s a shame,’ the manager said.
‘So, he had pain in his back and he could not carry on, which is something very unusual for Declan, so we’ll have to assess him and see how he is.’
This news will be concerning to Thomas Tuchel, with Rice one of four Arsenal stars called-up to the England squad for the October international break.
The Three Lions take on Wales in a friendly this Thursday before a World Cup qualifier against Latvia.